Guardian of Heaven and Earth
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New Yogo
Part 2 - Transcending Death
Chapter 2 - Chagum's First Battle
An enormous stone soared through the air with a whoosh of speed. The archers on the walls rushed to get out of the way, but many were crushed by the falling stones. General Rokusam watched in horror with his hands shaking.
“Don’t panic!” he barked. “Fire! Light your arrows on fire and shoot!” His voice broke, but he was loud enough to be heard over the din. The stone walls of the fortress crumbled under the assault of the Talsh catapults. The archers had no place to hide and were completely exposed to enemy fire.
The fortress at Yazuno was close to the Blue Bow River. Many large stones lined the riverbanks in this area, so the Talsh had plenty of ammunition for their catapults. The sound of the Talsh war drums reverberated in the air. They had crossed over the mountains at sunset, carrying their unspeakably huge war machines. Rokusam wouldn’t have believed that they could move with such heavy things if he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes.
Rakusam didn’t know that the catapults and war machines were mostly made of wood and could be easily disassembled. They were assembled on the battlefield in places where it was difficult for enemy forces—especially enemy archers—to reach. These war machines were one of the reasons Talsh was an unmatched opponent in war.
Though it was almost nightfall, the Talsh did not hesitate and attacked the fortress immediately. The Yogoese archers had fire arrows, but so did the Talsh, and Talsh’s arrows found their marks in the wooden support beams and interior places that had been shored up haphazardly before the war. The stone walls crumbled while the reinforced beams and struts burned.
In the gathering darkness, it was difficult to tell how large the army was. All Rokusam saw was that more and more Talsh kept appearing, marching down out of the mountains and the hills. They had set up their catapults first, then brought out barrels of oil and set them on fire to make it easier for their archers to light their arrows on fire. Then, they rolled another barrel of oil up to the main gates of the fortress, soaked the gates in oil and set them aflame. They had already defeated many fortresses in New Yogo using similar methods.
The gates of the fortress burned, then collapsed inwards. Rokusam watched as enemy archers poured through the open gate, their shadows lengthening behind them.
The Talsh brought ladders forward to lean against the walls of the fortress. Rokusam waved his sword wildly and yelled, “Push the ladders off! Aim for the ones holding them! They’re going to use the ladders to get their men up here!”
The Yogoese soldiers pushed the ladders off the wall, but the Talsh soldiers maintained their grip even when the ladders fell backwards. Their comrades kept the ladders stable at the base. Many Talsh entered the fortress via ladder, drawing swords when they reached the walls and cutting down anyone in their path.
Rokusam’s guards continued to protect him, but their footing atop the wall was becoming precarious. There was a terrible boom coming from outside the gate.
Is it over already? Have we lost?
The Talsh poured into the fortress like an army of ants. Rokusam felt something like courage break within himself. He likely wouldn’t live to see the dawn. He would die in the darkness.
The Talsh swords were wide and curved strangely, unlike the straighter Yogoese swords. Rokusam had trained with the sword for many years, but he’d never fought in an actual battle. He waved his weapon about, narrowly managing to defeat his opponents with the help of his more experienced guards. After dispatching his attackers, Rokusam called a retreat and ran deeper into the fortress.
Panic and the smell of blood went to Rokusam’s head as he fled, slaying enemies in a desperate panic. He was on the ground now with his back to the outer walls of the fortress. He looked over his shoulder and gasped.
The Talsh were loading their catapults again. He could see the stones being loaded and pulled back through the gaps in the fortress’ walls. All at once, the catapults released their projectiles, sending forth a rain of stone. Time slowed down. Rokusam almost thought that he was seeing things; none of this could be real.
Suddenly, a flaming cloud of arrows soared into the air from the fortress’ right side. All the arrows were aimed at the Talsh catapults. They struck their targets with a loud snapping sound. After the first volley, nearly all of the catapults were on fire. In mere moments, they’d become completely unusable.
The Talsh army suddenly lost focus. This wasn’t in their battle plans. A second set of flaming arrows descended, this time on the Talsh soldiers attacking what remained of the fortress walls. The Talsh army formed up and raised their shields, but they couldn’t see their new attackers in the dark. The arrows came from all over, so they couldn’t even tell which direction the fortress’ reinforcements had come from. As arrows continued to fly, more and more Talsh soldiers collapsed to the ground, dead, with their shields on fire.
Rokusam heard screams from all around him. The rhythm of the Talsh war drums changed, giving the soldiers new orders. The Talsh army assumed a protective formation around their own archers, with shield-bearers rushing toward a central spot on the battlefield to form a wall. When most of the Talsh soldiers were protected behind the shields, they advanced on the fortress in lockstep, slowly but steadily.
They’re planning to attack as a single force. Rokusam caught his breath. It was the best way to protect their men from enemy fire while also pressing the attack.
There was a loud shout like a cry. It wasn’t a scream. When Rokusam looked around for the source of the cry, he saw a man standing atop the single remaining watchtower. He sent up a cheer, then shouted at the top of his voice, “Reinforcements! Reinforcements have come! We’re saved!”
Rokusam looked out at the battlefield. Distantly, behind the Talsh line, he saw the glint of spearheads in the light of the battle fires.
Impossible. This must be a dream.
The reinforcements were marching from the south and not from the capital. Who were they? Who had sent them?
The Talsh were in defensive formation to protect the line from arrows; they couldn’t shift fast enough to prevent the reinforcements from skewering them in the back with their spears. The reinforcements advanced into the light of the flaming catapults as the soldiers of the Talsh army screamed in agony.
The soldiers Rokusam saw didn’t belong to the Yogoese army. They were Rotans. The Rotan cavalry had come to reinforce them right in the nick of time. “It’s the Rotan army!” Rokusam belted out. His guards formed up around him facing the battlefield, no less stunned than he was. “Protect the fortress! Trap the Talsh army between our line and the reinforcements!”
The Yogoese soldiers at the fortress moved as if they’d just returned to life.
Chagum’s first battle began at sunset.
After receiving word that the fortress at Yazuno was under attack, Chagum consulted with his lieutenants. Kahm and Hagu Muro took the Kanbalese cavalry to attack the Talsh supply train while Chagum and Karon led the Rotan forces to the fortress, following the line of the Blue Bow River. Chagum was careful to place himself behind the Talsh forces to protect the Kanbalese cavalry while they made their attack.
Chagum considered tactics with Karon as he rode toward the fortress. “It was built high in the valley, so any attackers will need to fight uphill and risk being picked off by arrows. If we time things right, we might be able to trap the Talsh army between us and the fortress walls. They won’t have anywhere to run. The path to Yazuno is reinforced and very narrow, so I don’t think they’ll be able to cut a way past us.”
Karon agreed with his assessment and offered some advice on how to move their own forces without being seen. It was fortunate that the sun was going down.
“It’s a good plan,” Chagum said. “When we’re in position, order the men to use fire arrows on the catapults.”
“Fire arrows?” Karon looked troubled. “We have no oil or means of making them on a large scale. Not just that, they’re hard to handle safely, especially for archers that aren’t used to them.”
Chagum nodded. “I understand that, but we need them. You read about the catapults the Talsh use in Sufar’s report. They’re made of wood and the projectiles they launch do so by means of thick rope. Both rope and wood will burn, destroying the catapults.”
Karon’s expression lightened as he understood Chagum’s plan. “We must notify the archers at once and gather all the arrows we can. If we travel through the mountains, we should be able to avoid being seen. I’ll give the orders immediately.”
And so, Chagum rode with the Rotan cavalry as they snaked their way through the mountains in front of the fortress. The fortress was on fire; it glowed red in the darkness. There were still Yogoese soldiers protecting it from the walls, but they seemed impossibly far away. Ladders were set up along the walls to either side of the gate. Chagum saw Talsh soldiers climbing up the ladders to attack the men standing on the walls.
Karon called out, “The men in the fortress can only beat back the enemy from range! Wait until the Talsh line gathers together in one group, then attack!”
The cavalrymen who bore spears rode to the front while the archers lined up behind them. This was the first battle many of them had fought, too.
Chagum waited on horseback behind the spearmen and archers of the Rotan army.
"You shouldn't be this far forward, Your Majesty," Kahm whispered. "It isn't safe here. Please ride farther back."
Chagum shook his head. "I'm not about to run and hide. I've never seen the Talsh fight, or the Rotan army, or our own. I need to see if I'm going to learn anything."
A scout called out, "The catapults are on fire! They're broken!"
Chagum heard the steady rhythm of the Talsh war drums quicken suddenly. He took a deep breath as the spearmen before him charged at the Talsh army from behind. Their horses galloped as fast as the wind.
The soldiers in the fortress rallied. Chagum saw ragged spearmen form a line and charge on their side, trapping the Talsh between two sets of spears. The battlefield became a muddled mess of soldiers fleeing and screaming. Several Rotan cavalrymen cheered when they saw gaps open up in the Talsh line.
But then the rhythm of the war drums changed again. Chagum realized it first. What? New orders? He knew that the Talsh used these drums to coordinate attacks in the middle of battle; that, too, had been in Sufar's message. Chagum watched with his mouth half-open as the formerly tight defensive line dispersed in all directions. It probably looked like the enemy was fleeing to the Rotans and Yogoese soldiers on the battlefield, but Chagum didn't think that was the case.
They're going to try to surround us instead.
Karon was in the thick of battle and hadn't noticed that the rhythm of the drums had changed yet. The Rotan army had the upper hand and focused on advancing toward the fortress. They completely missed that the Talsh were no trying to trap the combined armies.
"The Talsh are trying to form a circle around the fortress," Kahm spat. He'd remained next to Chagum as his guard. "Shit."
Chagum saw the Talsh falling back, preventing any retreat from the fortress. If he didn't act now, the armies would be cut off from behind.
Chagum drew his sword, faced the men behind him and shouted, "Rotans, to the left! Kanbalese, to the right! We have to prevent our allies from being cut off!" He kicked his horse into motion, speeding like an arrow onto the battlefield.
Kahm was right behind him. "Protect His Majesty! Disperse, left and right!"
The Kanbalese and Rotan forces split and began their own charge. Chagum gripped the hilt of his sword tightly as he entered the fiery area around the fortress gates. There were screams all around him, but he ignored them. This was his first battle. He didn't intend to lose.
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